Participation in wars: War for power. Hiking to Mogolistan. War with the Golden Horde. Hikes to Iran and the Caucasus. A three-year campaign into the Mongolian possessions. March on India. War with the Ottoman Empire. War with the Egyptian Sultans. Trip to China.
Participation in battles: Battle in the gorges west of Issyk-Kul. Battle of the Kondurche River. Battle of Terek. Angora battle. Conquest of Balkh, Shibergan, Badkhiz, Seistan. Capture of Khorasan, Serax, Jami, Qausia, Isferain, Tue, Kelat, Astrabad, Amuli, Sari, Sultaniya, Tabriz. The devastation of Azov, Kafu, Sarai-Batu, Astrakhan. Capture of Sivas, Aleppo, Damascus, Smyrna
(Tamerlan) Great commander of the Middle Ages, founder of the largest power of the era, winner of the Golden Horde
The Great Timur, who almost repeated his success Genghis Khan in creating a worldwide empire, born 1336
In Europe, he became known as Tamerlane (this comes from the Persian “Timurleng” - “lame Timur”) and as the “iron lame”. He called himself a “gurgan” - that is, a “son-in-law” of the house of the descendants of Genghis Khan, although no relative to Chingizids I wasn't. The conquered peoples fearfully called it Sahibkiran, which means victorious - the owner of a lucky combination of stars. Truly he was a lucky man and a darling of fate. And truly - a horror for his enemies: one only has to remember Vereshchagin’s painting “The Apotheosis of War” with a mound of skulls. This is exactly how Timur preferred to communicate with rebellious captives who did not want to recognize his will over their fate.
And there were many of them - for Timur’s saber swing reached far. To many countries. He was a worthy spiritual successor Genghis Khan, who saw the limits of his empire where the hooves of Mongol horses could reach. Timur developed this idea even further: “The entire space of the inhabited part of the world does not deserve to have more than one king.” Timur himself.
Formally, Timur never proclaimed himself a khan and always kept with him dummy khans from Chingizidov. Thus, he demonstrated his loyalty to the covenants Genghis Khan and once again reminded everyone of his own roots. He was of Barlas origin - a representative of one of the four Chagatai tribes, descendants of nomads who once came to Central Asia with Genghis Khan and his heirs.
Timur was born into the family of Barlas bek Toragai, a poor but influential man, in the village of Khoja Ilgar, not far from the city of Shakhrisyabz. He was raised as a future warrior and early became a good horseman and an excellent archer. But Timur never forgot that he was the son of a bek, and therefore he always tried to be the leader in all children's games. By nature he was a true leader and therefore, already in adolescence, he acquired for himself four devoted nukers (future warriors, for now - only horse servants). At the head of his nukers, he famously attacked distant and close neighbors, stealing almost every day a sheep, a cow, and occasionally a horse - the main value of yesterday's nomads.
At first, for Timur it was a brave thing, an attempt to prove to everyone, and above all to himself, that he could already live according to the great law of nomads, who consider everything that a neighbor cannot protect or hide as theirs. Over time, this great nomadic wisdom became clear to young Timur. For, following her, he became stronger and stronger. Not only by his own strength and polished military skills, but also by the number of his supporters. For the captured booty testified to his luck, one of the most necessary qualities of a future leader. The rumor about her spread throughout the area. As did the news of his generosity, for he divided everything he got with his unstinting hand among his associates. Believing that this booty is not what he wants for himself. That everything is still ahead of him. And the surrounding youth whispered about this among themselves, deciding to throw in their lot with Timur. Soon he had more nukers. And the goals of his detachment became different - the extraction of entire villages, caravans of merchants passing by.
In 1361 Timur offered his services Mongol Khan Toklug-Timur, who appeared with his army in Transoxiana. So Timurleng became the ruler of Kashkadarya.
Soon the khan sent his son as governor of the entire country. But Timur, who spared no expense in collecting soldiers, refused to recognize the power of the khan’s son over Kashkadarya and declared himself an independent ruler.
This was largely possible thanks to Emir Hussein, grandson of the great Emir of Kazagan. The emir saw great potential in the young robber and began to help him, relying in his policy on the growing strength of Timur. They became related - and Hussein’s sister Uljay Turkan-aga became the beloved wife of Timur, from now on also the emir.
Together the two emirs went on campaigns against their neighbors. They were looking for glory, and more - for prey. For Hussein was never lazy to repeat that the strong are always right. However, he was not the only one who thought so - and therefore not every joint raid was successful. Once in Seistan, together with Hussein, they attacked shepherds guarding a flock of sheep. But this time they were ambushed. Most of Timur's detachment was cut down. They wounded him in the right leg with a saber blow, knocked him off his horse and tried to finish him off on the ground.
Wounded, he accepted the battle and emerged victorious. True, he lost two fingers on his right hand, which fell under the cunning striking blow of the horseman. But Timur managed to kill the enemy with his left hand. In 1365, someone expelled from here after his death came to Transoxiana. Toklug-Timur his son Ilyas Khoja. Timur and Hussein, having recruited an army, went to meet him. The troops met between Chinaz and Tashkent. And so began what will go down in history as “ mud battle" Heavy rain turned the clay into sticky mud. Timur and Hussein were forced to flee to Samarkand, Hussein’s possession, and further beyond the Amu Darya, to the Balkh region, leaving the battlefield and their lands to the winner.
Luckily for the people of Samarkand, there were many serbedars in the city, which means “gallows,” for the serbedars said that it was better to die on the gallows than to submit to the Mongols. Timur and Hussein by this time had already become close to the local population, while Ilyas Khoja was a real Mongol khan. And the Serbedars swore to defend the city from him.
They left the main roads free, but blocked the internal narrow streets with barricades and chained them on top. Archers were placed above key barricades. And they hit the Mongols from the flanks when they, not expecting a trick, were drawn into the city. In the first ambush battle Ilyas Khoja lost about two thousand soldiers. The rest were drawn into a grueling urban war. Soon the invaders suffered another blow - a pestilence began among their horses: out of every four, only one survived. A Mongol without a horse is not a warrior, and their khan hastily retreated from Samarkand, leading his army, which was almost on foot.
The Serbedars remained the masters of the city. A few months later they returned to Samarkand Hussein and Timur. They did not return immediately - they were saving up their strength so that they would have something to oppose to the armed townspeople, who had tasted victory over a strong enemy and were now not particularly eager to submit to the old rulers again.
Without entering the city, the emirs stopped in a small village and widely informed everyone that they fully approved of all the actions of the Serbedars and invited their leaders to their headquarters. The first ceremonial reception was held in an atmosphere of love and friendship - all the Serbedar rulers were shown almost royal signs of attention. Rumors of such an honor spread widely throughout the area. The next day, Hussein and Timur again invited the people of Samarkand to their place to talk about business, about the future of the city. They invited me, knowing that they couldn’t come to an agreement. They didn’t really try - almost immediately they were captured and accused of usurping power, violating the rights of the existing dynasty, and causing offense to worthy people of the city...
Almost immediately after the accusations were made, the Serbedar leaders were executed. And Samarkand, shocked by the determination of the emirs, unconditionally recognized their power.
Soon disagreements began between father-in-law and son-in-law, each of whom wanted to be the first in the country. The disagreement ended in 1370 with the death of Hussein. In the same year, the military leaders of Maverannahr proclaimed Timur the sole sovereign of the country, and Timur himself appointed Chingizid Suyurgatmysh as khan, the first of a chain of dummy khans, under whom he would be the real ruler for many decades.
In 1372 Timur moved march to Khorezm, an ancient and rich country, and a year later he undertook another campaign. The result of the two campaigns was the humility of Khorezm and the entry of its southern part into the state of Timur.
Soon from White Horde ran to Timur Emir Tokhtamysh, the son of the closest associate of the Khan of the White Horde, who was recently executed for speaking out against the intention of the Khan of the White Horde to unite the entire ulus Jochi, subjugating the Golden Horde.
Timur helped several times Tokhtamysh organize a campaign against the Khan of the White Horde. Finally, in 1379 Tokhtamysh became the khan of the White Horde, immediately forgetting about Timur’s help and deciding to become the head of everything himself ulus Jochi.
Fulfilling this intention, he soon after the defeat Mamaia on the Kulikovo field Dmitry Donskoy in the same 1380 he defeated again Mamaia on the Kalka River. After which he became the single khan of the Golden and White Hordes, i.e. ulus Jochi.
His aggressive policy in Transcaucasia increasingly came into conflict with Timur. Thus, Tokhtamysh incited the Shah of Khorezm to fight against Timur. He responded by marching towards Northern Khorezm.
Its ruler, Yusuf Sufi, closed with his army in his capital, Urgench. Seeing the inaccessibility of the walls of this fortress city, Timur threw his army with fiery lava against the surrounding villages. Then Yusuf decided to try his luck and offered to meet Timur in a personal duel.
Timur accepted the challenge - despite everyone's persuasion. In light armor, with a saber and shield, he shouted for a long time at the city moat, calling Yusuf and reminding that death is better than breaking one's word. Yusuf did not come out, suddenly remembering Timur's glory as a skilled warrior.
Urgench held out for almost three more months. The last assault, which broke the defenders, took place after the death of Yusuf, who defended himself to the end. The city fell. For ten days it was robbed, burned and destroyed by the will of Timur. Of all the buildings, only one mosque with minarets survived as a result of this. Timur ordered the rest of the land, which until recently had been a beautiful city, to be sown with barley, so that not a trace would remain of the city that dared to resist him.
Timur walked three times march to Tokhtamysh. In 1391, at the head of a 200,000-strong army between present-day Samara and Chistopol, he defeated the khan. In 1395, in the Terek valley, Timur again defeated Tokhtamysh, moved to his capital - the city of Saray Berke, in the Volga region, and captured it. The cities of Crimea, the Sea of Azov, the Volga delta, and the North Caucasus also came under Timur’s attack.
After this blow, the Golden Horde never recovered. Which largely ensured the end of the yoke in Rus' in 1480.
During these same years, Timur made several long campaigns. Their goal is conquest and extraction. 1381— trip to Iran, to Herat, which Timur took by storm, capturing large booty in valuables and people.
A few years later he captured Seistan(its capital - Zaranj - will be crushed by the army of conquerors: all the walls are demolished to the ground, all the inhabitants are killed), so by the mid-80s most of Eastern Iran belonged to Timur. And by the end of the century - three campaigns later - he will conquer all of Iran. It was on these trips - when conquest of the city of Isfahan- 70 thousand people were killed, from which high towers were built by the will of the emir...
He loved such constructions from his victims. Isfahan Towers- the most famous. But there was a construction of a tower of two thousand living people, layered with broken bricks and clay, during the capture of the Afghan city of Isfizar.
Sometimes he simply ordered the rebellious to be buried alive - this is how four thousand people died during the conquest of the Asia Minor city of Sivas. And before the general battle with the Delhi Sultan, on his orders, one hundred thousand prisoners were slaughtered - Timur heard a rumor that his unarmed prisoners were allegedly preparing to stab him in the back at the most critical moment.
His troops awed not only the East, but also the West. In 1392, Armenia and Georgia became his possessions, and five years later - Azerbaijan.
The next year he goes on a campaign to India, takes over Delhi and takes out huge booty from there, including two white parrots, who for many years “guarded” the peace of the Sultans of Delhi.
Immediately after completing his campaign in India in 1400, he began to fight against Turkish Sultan
Name: Timur Tamerlan
Age: 68 years old
Place of birth: Khoja-Ilgar, Kesh, Uzbekistan
Place of death: Otra, Kazakhstan
Activity: commander and conqueror
Marital status: was married
Timur Tamerlan - biography
March marked the 680th anniversary of the birth of the man who defeated the Golden Horde. Timur Tamerlane was not a descendant of Genghis Khan, but continued his work. He was lame, but he walked halfway around the world. His armies wreaked havoc from the Bosphorus to the Ganges, building walls of corpses and pyramids of skulls. Six centuries later, his deeds were almost forgotten, but his name remained in the memory of all peoples, short and stern, like the blow of a scimitar - Timur-Leng, the Iron Lame.
Women of the Barlas clan lived in houses, but according to the law of their ancestors, they went to felt yurts to give birth. The future conqueror of Asia was born in such a yurt. This happened in March 1336 near the city of Shakhrisyabz, which was then called Kesh. Its ruler, Taragai, was the father of the child; history has not preserved the mother’s name - the Turkic emir had many wives and concubines. A hundred years earlier, the Mongol hordes captured the lands of Central Asia, dividing them between three Genghisid khans - Jochi, Chagatai and Hulagu.
The nomadic nobility mercilessly robbed the settled population and called them “sarts” - slaves. At the same time, the Mongols quickly adopted the customs of more cultured local peoples. After just a couple of generations, nomads in China could not be distinguished from the Chinese, in Iran - from the Persians, and in Maverannahr, present-day Uzbekistan, from the local Turks. Therefore, the newborn son of Taragai received the Turkic name Timur - “iron”. But his hair was red, like Genghis; it seems that both had European Scythian ancestors.
Since childhood, Timur lived up to his name, showing strength and courage in boyish games. The ruler's son learned to wield all types of weapons, hunt, and ride bareback. At the same time, he - an unprecedented thing - learned to read and attended lessons from learned ulema. They told him about the vast world outside Transoxiana - about the great city of Constantinople, about the wonders of India and China. Perhaps even then he had a dream to conquer this world. But in any case, military service had to start from the basics.
At the age of 12, Timur entered service in the army of the Chagatai Khanate, which at that time was ruled by Khan Bayan-Kuli. Year after year, the young man mastered military science, became a centurion, and then a thousand-man minbaschi. He selected the best warriors for his detachment, selflessly devoted to him. When the ruler of neighboring Mogolistan (present-day Kyrgyzstan) Togluk-Timur invaded the country in 1359, Bayan-Kuli expected that the faithful thousand-man would drive back the enemy.
However, Timur was not only brave, but also calculating. He knew that the khan had no chance of winning, and in time he chose the side of the strongest. A couple of weeks later, Bayan’s head stuck out on a peak in front of the palace, and the captain of a thousand with rich gifts was visiting Togluk-Timur’s yurt. This allowed Timur to maintain his detachment and possessions inherited after the death of his father.
But the peace was short-lived. In those years, all of Asia was in motion. China overthrew the Mongol khans, in Iran the descendants of Hulagu were pressed by rebel sarbadars (that is, “hanged men”). Moscow Prince Dmitry accumulated strength to overthrow the power of the Golden Horde. At that moment, the road to power was open to the strong and dexterous, and Timur did not miss his chance. To begin with, he became related to the ruler of Samarkand, Emir Hussein, taking his sister Uljay-Turkan as his wife. Together they rebelled against Togluk-Timur, but were defeated.
Timur fled to the Tajik mountains, taking his beloved wife with him; He hid his two sons in a safe place, placing them in the care of a deaf-mute servant. For several years he, with a small detachment, served as a mercenary for various eastern sovereigns. During one of his campaigns in Sistan, enemies fired at him with arrows. He survived, but was seriously injured - his right arm lost half of its strength, and a ligament in his leg, broken by an arrow, left him lame forever. Since then, his name was Lame Timur - Temir-Aksak in Turkic, Timur-Leng in Persian. In European languages he became Tamerlane.
Despite the injuries, Timur did not lose influence over his soldiers. He was strict but fair, generously rewarded the faithful, and the blacksmiths defeated the Mongols. Right at the feast in honor of the victory, Timur killed his “agitators” - the Sarbadar leaders - he did not need rivals. However, it turned out that Hussein did not really need him either, who did not very politely expel his ally from the city. After the death of Tamerlane's wife Uljay-Turkan, who somehow reconciled her brothers-in-arms, open war began between them. As a result, after many campaigns and skirmishes in 1370, Hussein was stabbed to death by two of his close associates at night. When they came to Timur for a reward, he ordered to strangle them, saying: “He who betrays once will betray again.”
According to Eastern custom, Timur took all the property of the killed enemy, including his wife Mulk Khanum. He made Samarkand his capital, from where he began the conquest of Central Asia. First, a battle-hardened army moved against Togluk Timur and captured his country. Then Timur achieved the subjugation of Khorezm by marrying his eldest son Jahangir to the daughter of the Khorezm ruler. Then it was the turn of the ruler of Semirechye Kamar Addin - he had to give his beautiful daughter Dilshod-aga as a wife to the winner.
At the same time, Timur helped the Siberian prince Tokhtamysh to overthrow Mamai, defeated on the Kulikovo Field, and take the throne of the Golden Horde. When the North fell into Timur's power, he turned his troops south to Iran and Afghanistan. After three campaigns, these countries were conquered. Meanwhile, Timur managed to catch the warrior who had once crippled him. The unforgiving Iron Lame ordered the enemy to be tied to a tree and shot with bows.
Having become the ruler of a vast territory, Timur did not accept the title of khan: according to custom, only a descendant of Genghis Khan could become one. He himself limited himself to the more modest title of emir, but in reality his power was unlimited. Timur made a huge 500,000-strong army the backbone of the state - in every family one of the men had to go to military service. He distributed to brave warriors for hereditary possession the lands taken from rebels and cowards. His associates and relatives were given control of provinces and even entire countries.
The affairs of the entire state were managed by the Divan (council), which included viziers, military leaders and theologians. Once a week, Timur attended council meetings, participating in resolving all issues. When appointed to high positions, he did not pay attention to birth - one of his viziers was Hamid Agha, the son of a baker. The main criteria were diligence and devotion. But even the most devoted ones faced death if they robbed the population in peacetime or put their hand into the treasury. “My law is the same for everyone,” the emir said, and this was actually true.
Timur's main hobby was decorating his capital. He called experienced architects, engineers, and artists from all over the world to Samarkand. Through their efforts, such magnificent buildings were erected as the ensemble of the main Registan square, the Gur-Emir tomb and the huge Bibi-Khanym mosque, which was later destroyed by an earthquake. Timur regularly visited construction sites and monitored the progress of work. Even more often, he gathered learned people who gave him lectures on a variety of topics.
Historian Hafizi Abru states: “Timur deeply knew the history of the Persians and Turks. He valued all knowledge that could be of practical use, that is, medicine, astronomy and mathematics, and paid special attention to architecture.” He is echoed by his contemporary Arabshchakh: “Timur revered scientists and poets and showed them special favor... He entered into scientific discussions with them, and in disputes he was fair and courteous.” It is worth noting that he was the first of the eastern rulers to write (or, more precisely, dictate) his autobiography. In addition to scientific disputes, Timur loved the game of chess and gave his beloved youngest son the name Shahrukh - “chess rook”.
But one should not imagine him as a kind and fair “father of nations.” Taking care of the center of his state, Timur mercilessly ravaged its outskirts. After the relative tolerance of the Mongol khans, he raised the banner of Muslim fanaticism. Having assigned himself the title of “ghazi” (defender of the faith), he declared war on all “infidels” - subjects had to convert to Islam or die. His anger also fell on the Iranian shields, whom he considered heretics.
In 1387, he attacked the city of Isfahan and killed 70 thousand people there. A high tower was subsequently erected from their heads. Timur henceforth used this barbaric custom in all conquered countries in order to intimidate the local population. But such cruelty cannot be explained by political calculations alone; there is something sadistic in it. Perhaps the influence of schizophrenia - all the sons of Timur, except Shahrukh, suffered from this disease. However, it could also be that the emir was simply infuriated by the stubborn disobedience of his subjects - he had to take Isfahan three times, and make as many as four campaigns against Khorezm.
Meanwhile, while Timur was plundering Iran, his empire was attacked by the ruler of the Horde, Khan Tokhtamysh. Rus' almost stopped paying tribute, and the khan urgently needed rich booty. Attacking from the north, he plundered many cities and almost took Samarkand, which Prince Miranshah barely managed to defend. Having returned, Timur made a return campaign against the Volga, but the Horde easily escaped from the clumsy foot army. Then Timur turned back to Iran and finally conquered it, reaching Baghdad. At this time, the restless Tokhtamysh attacked from the other side, from behind the Caucasus Mountains.
In 1395, Timur's huge army moved north to put an end to the khan once and for all. One after another, the cities of the Caucasus and the Volga region turned into ruins, and in August the emir’s army approached the borders of Russia. Grand Duke Vasily Dmitrievich began hastily gathering an army, but the forces were unequal. The first on the path of the conquerors was little Yelets - it fell after two days of resistance. Timur ordered to kill all men and boys taller than the cart axle (approximately 70 cm), and took the rest into captivity. Other cities awaited the same fate with trepidation, but Timur unexpectedly turned his army back.
For this miracle they thanked the icon of Our Lady of Vladimir, brought to Moscow, - since then it has become one of the most revered in Rus'. But in fact, Timur had no intention of moving on, and besides, he was in a hurry to leave a foreign country before the cold weather. The goal of his campaign - to defeat the enemy troops - was achieved. Tokhtamysh fled to Siberia, where he died.
After this, Timur attacked rich and populous India. The Muslim Tughlaqid dynasty ruled there, which the emir accused of conniving with the “infidel” Hindus. In the summer of 1398, his army launched an offensive from the west, one after another, destroying the fortresses of the warlike Rajputs. Before they died, Hindus threw their wives and children into the flames so that they would not fall to their enemies. Timur's warriors cut off the heads of the living and the dead and methodically built pyramids from them. In December, the emir approached Delhi, where he was met by hundreds of Sultan Muhammad Tughlaq's war elephants.
Timur ordered to shower them with a hail of arrows wrapped in burning tow; Frightened, the animals rushed back and trampled their own army. The city surrendered without resistance, but Timur still gave it up for plunder. It all ended in a fire, after which only the spiers of the minarets remained from the huge city - they, along with the mosques, were forbidden to touch under pain of death. Then the army moved at a snail's pace, burdened with a huge number of prisoners. When Timur realized that the prisoners were depriving the army of mobility, he ordered them all to be killed - 100 thousand people died.
Having reached the border of the jungle, the army turned back. Thousands of camels carried looted loot to Samarkand. Along the way, we passed a huge pile of stones - when going to India, each warrior threw a stone on the ground. On the way back, the survivors took one stone at a time, and the losses could be judged from the rest. It must be said that Timur always tried to establish accounting and control in his possessions. He sold the goods exported from India, primarily spices, with enormous profit in the markets of the Middle East.
The emir planned to establish relations with Europe, sending proposals to the kings of England and France to establish trade relations. At the same time, the emir proposed that European rulers unite in an alliance against Ottoman Turkey, which was now Timur’s main opponent. The Turkish Sultan Bayezid, having defeated Christians in Eastern Europe, turned his arms against his fellow believers and threatened Iraq. His ally, the Egyptian Sultan Barkuk, killed Timur's ambassadors, which in the East was considered a grave insult. The emir's reaction, as always, was quick. Soon Barkuk was poisoned, and Tamerlane's 400,000-strong army moved from Samarkand to the west.
The western provinces were ruled by Timur's son Miranshah, but he suffered from seizures and eventually went completely mad. Taking advantage of this, residents of Iraq and Syria refused to pay taxes and threatened to go over to Bayezid's side. With the appearance of Timur, a bloody massacre awaited them. Baghdad was burned, and the heads of 90 thousand of its inhabitants were placed in another tower. Syrian Aleppo surrendered after the emir promised not to shed the blood of Muslims. Timur kept his word: only the Christian population was slaughtered, and the Muslims were buried alive in the ground.
The conquerors were especially atrocious in Georgia and Armenia, where churches were burned or converted into mosques. Two thousand Armenians were burned in the city of Dvin. In the spring of 1402, Timur invaded Anatolia and besieged the Sivas fortress. After its capture, the Muslims were pardoned for a change, and the Christians were buried alive. In July of the same year, the armies of Timur and Bayezid met near the current Turkish capital of Ankara. The Sultan's army, into which the Greeks and Serbs were forcibly mobilized, was even larger than that of his enemy.
In total, about a million people took part in the battle, of whom 150 thousand died. The massacre continued for more than a day, until Timur’s more experienced and organized army put the enemy to flight. Bayezid himself was captured and led to the victor in chains. Timur looked at the hunched figure of the Sultan and his yellow face - Bayezid had a diseased liver. “Great is Allah! - said the emir. “He wanted to divide the world between a cripple and an ailing old man.”
The Sultan was put in a cage and sent to Samarkand - according to rumors, Timur planned to set up something like a zoo for the overthrown rulers there. Bayezid died on the road, and his heirs fought with each other for a long time. Against his will, the “defender of the Muslim faith” Timur became an ally of Christian Byzantium: having defeated the Turkish army, he delayed the fall of Constantinople for half a century.
In 1403, the Iron Lame returned to Samarkand. The city still flourished, but this did not please the aging ruler. He was tormented by pain in his wounded leg and was tormented by thoughts about the fragility of his power. Who should leave a huge empire, in different parts of which riots broke out every now and then? The eldest son Jahangir died before he turned eighteen, and his two brothers also went to the grave. The mad Miranshah lived out his days under strict supervision. Shahrukh remained - soft, compliant, not at all like his father. His mother, the young nomadic princess Dilshodaga, also died. How fleeting is human life! But Timur has not yet realized all his plans.
At the very beginning of 1405, the armies set out on the campaign again. Their goal was China - there awaited riches that had not yet been plundered and millions of “infidels” who needed to be converted to Islam. To lead the campaign, Timur arrived in the city of Otrar on the border of the steppes, but unexpectedly fell ill and died on February 18 in terrible agony. His body was taken to Samarkand and buried in the Gur-Emir mausoleum.
For many centuries in the East there was a belief: whoever disturbs the ashes of the conqueror will cause a terrible, unprecedented war. But Soviet archaeologists, led by Mikhail Gerasimov, did not pay attention to these warnings. Scientists began opening the tomb of Tamerlane early in the morning June 22, 1941!
After the Victory, the work was completed. Using a cast from the skull bones, Gerasimov was able to restore the appearance of Tamerlane. Visitors to the Moscow Historical Museum saw high cheekbones, narrow tiger eyes, and sternly compressed lips. This was a real god of war, the ruler of a huge empire, for the greatness of which its subjects paid with millions of lives.
Timur (Tamerlane, Timurleng) (1336-1405), commander, Central Asian emir (since 1370).
Born in the village of Khadzha-Ilgar. The son of Bek Taragai from the Mongolian Barlas tribe grew up in poverty, dreaming of the glorious exploits of Genghis Khan. Those times seemed to be gone forever. The young man’s share was only in clashes between the “princes” of small villages.
When the Mogolistan army arrived in Transoxiana, Timur happily went to serve the founder and khan of Mogolistan Togluk-Timur and was appointed governor of the Kashkadarya district. From the wound he received, he acquired the nickname Timurleng (Timur Khromets).
When the old khan died, Khromets felt like an independent ruler, entered into an alliance with the emir of Balkh and Samarkand Hussein and married his sister. Together they opposed the new Khan of Mogolistan, Ilyas Khoja, in 1365, but were defeated. Kicked out the conquerors
a rebellious people, whom Timur and Hussein then brutally dealt with.
After this, Timur killed Hussein and began to rule Transoxiana alone on behalf of the descendants of Genghis Khan. Imitating his idol in organizing the army, Timur convinced the nomadic and sedentary nobility that a place in the disciplined army of the conquerors would give them more than vegetating in their semi-independent possessions. He moved to the possessions of the Khan of the Golden Horde Mamai and took away Southern Khorezm from him (1373-1374), and then helped his ally, Khan Tokhtamysh, to take the throne.
Tokhtamysh started a war against Timur (1389-1395), in which the Horde was defeated and its capital, Sarai, was burned.
Only on the border of Rus', which seemed to Timur an ally, did he turn back.
In 1398 Timur invaded India and took Delhi. The only opponent of his huge state, which included Central Asia, Transcaucasia, Iran and Punjab, was the Ottoman Empire. Having led her troops after the death of his brother right on the Kosovo field and completely defeated the crusaders, Sultan Bayezid I the Lightning entered into a decisive battle with Timur near Ankara (1402). Timur carried Sultan with him for a long time in a golden cage, showing it to the people. The emir sent the looted treasures to his capital Samarkand, where he carried out major construction.
In the middle of the 14th century. The Chagatai ulus, a state in Central Asia that arose after the collapse of the Mongol Empire, was divided into two states - Maverannahr (between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers) and Mogolistan (Semirechye, Issyk-Kul region, Kashgar). Power in both countries was in the hands of the Turkic-Mongol emirs.
Emir Timur (in Turkic - “iron”) was born on April 9, 1336 in the area of Khoja-Ilgar, in the vicinity of the city of Kesh (Shakhrisyabz). His father was the ruler of the Mongolian Barlas tribe, which probably moved to Transoxiana during the era of Genghis Khan.
By the beginning of the 14th century. The Barlas, under the influence of the Turkic environment, adopted the Turkic language and culture. From an early age Timur was a good horseman, an excellent archer, and a master of the saber. The future commander grew up desperate, decisive and cunning.
At the end of the 50s, with the help of the rulers of Mogolistan, Timur established power over his fellow tribesmen - the Barlas, who owned the Kashkadarya River valley. When in the early 60s. one of the emirs, a certain Hussein, was proclaimed the supreme emir in Transoxiana, Timur became his right hand. Tall, athletically built, Timur had enormous physical strength, was desperately brave, rushed into the thick of battle, not knowing the fear of death.
When Timur was 26 years old, during one of the battles he was wounded by two arrows. The wounds healed, but his right arm, with two mutilated fingers, lost the ability to bend at the elbow, and his right leg did not straighten and was noticeably shorter than his left leg. Since then, Timur, in addition to his name, received the nickname “lame” in Turkic “azak”, in Persian - “leng”. This is where the second name of the commander came from - Timurleng (in European pronunciation - Tamerlane) - Iron Lame.
Seizure of power in Transoxiana
In 1370, Tamerlane led a rebellion against his overlord, Emir Hussein. The rebels besieged Balkh, the residence of the ruler of Ma-verannahr. The city was taken by an attack of several thousand barlas. The assault was accompanied by a rebellion inside the fortress, raised by the emirs of the Naiman and Dulat tribes, who were in cahoots with Timur. Hussein was captured and executed. There, in Balkh, on April 9, 1370, the Iron Lame was proclaimed the supreme ruler of Ma-verannahr. This is how the Timurid dynasty arose in Transoxiana, which ruled until the beginning of the 16th century.
Timur was a supporter of Mongolian traditions and a zealot for the rights of the Mongolian khans - the descendants of Genghis Khan, according to which only the Genghisids had the right to the throne in Central Asia and the Great Steppe. Having become the sovereign ruler of the state, he never bore the title of khan, but placed dummy khans from the Genghisids on the throne and called himself the representative of the “owner of the throne.”
Having established himself as the sole ruler in Transoxiana, Timur destroyed the existing system of statehood - he eliminated the local autonomy of the tribes, turning the tribal confederation into an army unquestioningly loyal to him.
The first step was the formation of a corps of military leaders on the principle of personal loyalty to the new ruler. Gradually, Timur replaced the former tribal aristocracy with his closest associates and relatives. At the same time, his guard was created. Timur highly appreciated the military science and government of Genghis Khan; Mongolian order and discipline dominated in his army.
According to Ibn Arabshah, the number of warriors included in the lists of Timur’s army reached 800 thousand. His main support was the Turkicized Mongolian nomadic tribes - the Chagatai - by whose name his entire army was often called, which was nevertheless very motley in ethnic composition. The Chagatai, in their appearance, were more like Mongols than Muslims - they wore braids and a special headdress in the Mongolian style. Timur himself was also a warrior of the Chagatai type, and his Chagatai were closer to him than his warriors of Iranian origin - the Tajiks.
Having reformed the army and the administrative apparatus, Timur channeled the energy of the restless emirs of the tribes subordinate to him into the channel of aggressive campaigns. For this purpose, in the early 70s. began a series of military campaigns, first against his closest neighbors, and after 786 AH (1384/85) he undertook large-scale long-distance campaigns, only occasionally returning to Samarkand.
Building an Empire
Timur was excellent in military affairs. He did not lose a single war and rightfully gained the glory of a great commander. The area of Tamerlane's campaigns embraces a huge region: from the Irtysh in the northeast to Delhi in the southeast and from Yelets in the Ryazan land in the northwest to the Mediterranean Sea in the southwest. The Caspian regions, the Aral Sea region, Persia, Afghanistan and Mesopotamia were annexed to the empire with its center in Samarkand. Mogolistan, the Golden Horde, Syria, the Delhi Sultanate in India, the Ottoman Empire, Georgia, and Armenia were subjected to devastating invasions.
In 1372, Timur first captured Khorezm, which had recently liberated itself from the rule of the Golden Horde. After that, he campaigned against the Khorezmians five times and in 1388 finally annexed this territory to his empire.
During this campaign, the capital of Khorezm, Urgench, by order of Timur, was razed to the ground. The city population was taken to Samarkand, and barley was sown on the site of the destroyed city. Only in 1391 did Iron Lame allow the restoration of Urgench.
Fight with Tokhtamysh
In 1388, Timur began a fierce and long struggle with the Khan of the Golden Horde, Tokhtamysh. The latter owed his power to the Samarkand ruler. But, having seized the Golden Horde throne, Tokhtamysh did not feel gratitude to his patron. In 1386-1387 he made campaigns to Tabriz, and then through Derbent to Azerbaijan, subject to Timur. In 1387, when Timur was in Persia, Tokhtamysh attacked with his troops the indigenous lands of Timur's empire, besieged Bukhara and devastated its surroundings.
In 1391, in the battle with Tokhtamysh in the Lower Volga region, in the Battle of Kunduzch, Timur used a special formation of seven large detachments, which came as a surprise to the enemy. Timur attached great importance to the reserve, whose fresh forces at the decisive moment of the battle were supposed to ensure victory. Each of his military units clearly knew their task in battle. Tokhtamysh was defeated, after which Timur and his troops reached the Volga and returned to his possessions, satisfied with Tokhtamysh’s escape. The latter, however, soon recaptured the Golden Horde throne.
In 1395, Timur launched a major campaign against Tokhtamysh and crushed him in a general battle on the Terek. Timur's warriors passed through the territory of the Golden Horde like a bloody tornado, destroying the centers of its urban culture - the capital Sarai, the cities of Azak (Azov), Khadzhi-Tarkhan (Astrakhan), etc.
In the same year, from the lower reaches of the Don and Kuban, Timur’s 200,000-strong army, after the defeat of the Golden Horde, invaded the Western Caucasus. Having plundered Circassia, Timur's troops returned home. This was not his first campaign in the Caucasus - in 1392 he defeated Armenia and Georgia.
Trek to India
In 1398, the “Indian campaign” was launched, which was proclaimed in the form of ghazavat - a holy war against infidels - Gebrs (Zoroastrians), idolaters (Hindus and Buddhists) and heretics (Indian Muslims).
The vanguard of Timur's troops, before the main forces arrived, took Multan, the key fortress of the Sultans of Delhi on the northwestern border of India, where they captured huge booty. In September 1398, the main army crossed the Indus River via a pontoon bridge and captured the city of Talambu without resistance. In October, the Chagatai took the Indian cities of Ajudhan and Dibalpur with a surprise attack, besieging the strong fortress of Bhatnair. Siege engines were brought to the walls of the fortress and tunnels were made. The besieged, in despair, set their wives, children, and property on fire and “prepared for a desperate battle.” On November 11, the fierce resistance was broken, Bhatnair fell and was turned into “heaps of ash and garbage” by the conquerors. The path to Delhi, the capital of the sultanate, was open. Before rushing to Delhi, Timur reviewed his “armored horsemen” and gave the order to exterminate 100 thousand prisoners, fearing to leave them in the camp.
On the approaches to Delhi vs. The troops of the Delhi Sultanate came out from the Iron Lame - 10 thousand horsemen, 40 thousand infantry and war elephants, prepared for a general battle. The bloody battle took place on December 17. Timur commanded the center of his army.
The Indians' bet on 120 war elephants did not pay off.
Timur learned from previous battles when elephants trampled his warriors. This time, according to the testimony of the ambassador of the King of Castile to Timur, Rui Gonzalez de Clavijo, “he ordered to bring many camels, load them with straw and place them against the elephants. And when the battle began, he ordered the straw to be set on fire, and when the elephants saw the burning camels, they fled... The Indian lord was defeated.” Having devastated defenseless Delhi, Timur returned to Samarkand in 1399.
Wars in Asia Minor
The following year, Tamerlane marched on the Egyptian-Syrian Sultanate. The Circassian Mamluks, who ruled the sultanate at that time, retreated to Damascus under the pressure of the invaders, taking refuge behind its walls. After a multi-day siege, on the orders of Timur, his soldiers filled the ditch under the walls of the city, driving thousands of prisoners there, and climbed their bodies to the walls of the fortress. After, by agreement with Tamerlane, Damascus was abandoned by most of the garrison, 40 defenders locked themselves in the citadel, preferring death in battle. The Mamluk troops, emerging from Damascus, retreated to Egypt, using “scorched earth tactics” during their retreat, which stopped the enemy pursuing them.
Having dealt with the Egyptian-Syrian Sultanate, Timur turned all his strength against the Ottoman Empire, which was already one of the most powerful in the world. Back in 1386, Timur crossed the borders of Eastern Anatolia and defeated the army of Anatolian emirs at the Battle of the Erzincan fortress, which was an Ottoman outpost on their eastern border. It was a reconnaissance raid, a kind of “strength test” of distant neighbors. In 1395, Timur appeared again and marched to Sivas (a fortress in Eastern Anatolia), destroying the entire population along the way. The son of the Ottoman Sultan Bayazid I, who was the governor here, also died at his hand.
In 1402, Bayazid I, also famous for his military victories, like Timur, and nicknamed Lightning, at the head of an army of 120 thousand, besieged Constantinople. Timur's hordes, outnumbering his army, moved from the east towards the Sultan. According to the agreement between the emperor of Byzantium and Timur, in the event of war, the Byzantines pledged to prevent the transfer of Ottoman troops from the Balkans to Anatolia, and the Cha-Gatai, in turn, were to provide assistance to Constantinople in the fight against the Turks. Timur's ambassadors arrived in the camp of Bayezid I, demanding that all the lands seized from him by the Ottomans be returned to the Byzantine emperor. Bayezid I responded to Timur with insults, threatening to dishonor the wives of his harem. The war has begun.
Having learned of Timur's approach, Bayazid lifted the siege of Constantinople and moved towards him. The decisive battle took place on July 25, 1402 in the center of Anatolia near modern Ankara. Bayezid's army included not only the Ottomans, but also warriors from conquered countries, for example, the heavy cavalry of the Serbs, and the rulers of Shirvan and Sheki (Azerbaijan) joined Timur's troops.
The Turks looked down on the enemy, as a result of which they found themselves in unfavorable positions. When Timur's huge army, reinforced by a detachment of war elephants from India, launched a crushing attack, the Ottomans wavered and fled. Some of the Turkic warriors went over to Timur's side. The only soldiers of the Turkish army who steadfastly held their positions were the Serbs, led by their ruler Stefan, a vassal of the Ottomans, who managed to save Bayazid’s eldest son, Suleiman. Timur's army completely defeated the enemy. Bayazid, like a simple warrior, fought desperately, but was captured. Timur was merciful to the vanquished: the Sultan was treated respectfully in captivity. When he died in March 1403, his son Musa received his freedom and was allowed to transport his father's body to the family mausoleum in Bursa.
After defeating Bayezid, the Iron Lame marched across Western Anatolia, sacking Ottoman cities, including the then Ottoman capital Bursa, where Bayezid's harem fell into his hands. At the end of 1403, the army left Anatolia and returned to Samarkand.
Heir to the excellent Mongol tactics, Timur fought with the exceptional cruelty characteristic of the Mongols. So, after the capture of Isfizar, the Iron Lame ordered the construction of towers of 2,000 living people, laid on top of each other and covered with clay and bricks, or burying 4,000 captured soldiers alive after the capture of Sivas. And in India, in captured Delhi, “towers made from the heads of Hindus reached their maximum height...”. Timur’s troops left such towers of heads wherever they passed by a deadly tornado.
Having defeated the Turks, Timur began to prepare for a campaign against China. By 1404, he took control of Mogholistan and East Turkestan. Thus, the vast region of the Tien Shan region constituted a strategic corridor necessary for a breakthrough to the borders of the “Middle Empire”. The Dzungarian gates and oases of East Turkestan became strongholds in preparation for the campaign against China. However, at the beginning of the Chinese campaign, in February 1405, Timur died in the city of Otrar, leaving his descendants a huge empire, which after his death fell into pieces.
The full name of the great conqueror of antiquity, who will be discussed in our article, is Timur ibn Taragai Barlas, but in literature he is often referred to as Tamerlane, or the Iron Lame. It should be clarified that he was nicknamed Iron not only for his personal qualities, but also because this is how his name Timur is translated from the Turkic language. The lameness was the result of a wound received in one of the battles. There is reason to believe that this mysterious commander of the past is involved in the great bloodshed that was shed in the 20th century.
Who is Tamerlan and where is he from?
First, a few words about the childhood of the future Great Khan. It is known that Timur-Tamerlane was born on April 9, 1336 on the territory of the current Uzbek city of Shakhrisabz, which at that time was a small village called Khoja-Ilgar. His father, a local landowner from the Barlas tribe, Muhammad Taragai, professed Islam, and raised his son in this faith.
Following the customs of those times, from early childhood he taught the boy the basics of military art - horse riding, archery and javelin throwing. As a result, barely reaching maturity, he was already an experienced warrior. It was then that the future conqueror Tamerlane received invaluable knowledge.
The biography of this man, or rather, that part of it that has become the property of history, begins with the fact that in his youth he gained the favor of Tughlik Khan, the ruler of the Chagatai ulus, one of the Mongolian states, on whose territory the future commander was born.
Appreciating Timur's fighting qualities, as well as his extraordinary mind, he brought him closer to the court, making him his son's tutor. However, the prince’s entourage, fearing his rise, began to build intrigues against him, and as a result, fearing for his life, the newly-minted teacher was forced to flee.
Leading a squad of mercenaries
The years of Tamerlane's life coincided with the historical period when it was a continuous theater of military operations. Fragmented into many states, it was constantly torn apart by civil strife among local khans, who were constantly trying to seize neighboring lands. The situation was aggravated by countless bandits of robbers - jete, who did not recognize any authority and lived exclusively by robberies.
In this environment, the failed teacher Timur-Tamerlane found his true calling. Having united several dozen ghulams - professional mercenary warriors - he created a detachment that, in its fighting qualities and cruelty, surpassed all other surrounding gangs.
First conquests
Together with his thugs, the newly-minted commander made daring raids on cities and villages. It is known that in 1362 he stormed several fortresses that belonged to the Sarbadars - participants in the popular movement against Mongol rule. Having captured them, he ordered the surviving defenders to be walled up in the walls. This was an act of intimidation to all future opponents, and such cruelty became one of the main traits of his character. Very soon the whole East learned about who Tamerlane was.
It was then that in one of the battles he lost two fingers of his right hand and was seriously wounded in the leg. Its consequences lasted until the end of his life and served as the basis for the nickname - Timur the Lame. However, this did not prevent him from becoming a figure who played a significant role in the history of not only Central, Western and South Asia, but also the Caucasus and Rus' in the last quarter of the 14th century.
His military talent and extraordinary audacity helped Tamerlane conquer the entire territory of Fergana, subjugating Samarkand and making the city of Ket the capital of the newly formed state. Further, his army rushed to the territory belonging to present-day Afghanistan, and, having ravaged it, stormed the ancient capital of Balkh, the emir of which, Huseyn, was immediately hanged. Most of the courtiers shared his fate.
Cruelty as a weapon of intimidation
The next direction of attack of his cavalry was the cities of Isfahan and Fars, located south of Balkh, where the last representatives of the Persian Muzaffarid dynasty ruled. The first on his way was Isfahan. Having captured it and given it to his mercenaries for plunder, Timur the Lame ordered the heads of the dead to be placed in a pyramid, the height of which exceeded the height of a person. This was a continuation of his constant tactics of intimidating his opponents.
It is characteristic that the entire subsequent history of Tamerlane, the conqueror and commander, was marked by manifestations of extreme cruelty. It can be partly explained by the fact that he himself became a hostage to his own politics. Leading a highly professional army, the Lame had to regularly pay his mercenaries, otherwise their scimitars would turn against him. This forced us to achieve new victories and conquests by any means available.
The beginning of the fight against the Golden Horde
In the early 80s, the next stage in Tamerlane’s ascent was the conquest of the Golden Horde, or, in other words, the Dzhuchiev ulus. From time immemorial, it was dominated by the Euro-Asian steppe culture with its religion of polytheism, which had nothing in common with Islam, professed by the majority of its warriors. Therefore, the fighting that began in 1383 became a clash not only of opposing armies, but also of two different cultures.
Ordynsky, the same one who made a campaign against Moscow in 1382, wanting to get ahead of his enemy and strike first, undertook a campaign against Kharezm. Having achieved temporary success, he also captured a significant territory of what is now Azerbaijan, but soon his troops were forced to retreat, suffering significant losses.
In 1385, taking advantage of the fact that Timur and his hordes were in Persia, he tried again, but this time he failed. Having learned about the invasion of the Horde, the formidable commander urgently returned his troops to Central Asia and completely defeated the enemy, forcing Tokhtamysh himself to flee to Western Siberia.
Continuing the fight against the Tatars
However, the conquest of the Golden Horde was not yet completed. Its final defeat was preceded by five years filled with incessant military campaigns and bloodshed. It is known that in 1389 the Horde khan even managed to insist that Russian squads support him in the war with Muslims.
This was facilitated by the death of the Grand Duke of Moscow Dmitry Donskoy, after which his son and heir Vasily was obliged to go to the Horde for a label to reign. Tokhtamysh confirmed his rights, but subject to the participation of Russian troops in repelling the Muslim attack.
Defeat of the Golden Horde
Prince Vasily gave his consent, but it was only formal. After the defeat caused by Tokhtamysh in Moscow, none of the Russians wanted to shed blood for him. As a result, in the very first battle on the Kondurcha River (a tributary of the Volga), they abandoned the Tatars and, crossing to the opposite bank, left.
The conquest of the Golden Horde was completed by the battle on the Terek River, in which the troops of Tokhtamysh and Timur met on April 15, 1395. Iron Lame managed to inflict a crushing defeat on his enemy and thereby put an end to the Tatar raids on the territories under his control.
Threat to Russian lands and campaign against India
They were preparing their next blow to the very heart of Rus'. The goals of the planned campaign were Moscow and Ryazan, who until then did not know who Tamerlane was and paid tribute to the Golden Horde. But, fortunately, these plans were not destined to come true. The uprising of the Circassians and Ossetians, which broke out in the rear of Timur's troops and forced the conqueror to turn back, prevented this. The only victim then was the city of Yelets, which was on his way.
Over the next two years, his army made a victorious campaign in India. Having captured Delhi, Timur's soldiers plundered and burned the city, and killed 100 thousand defenders who were captured, fearing a possible rebellion on their part. Having reached the banks of the Ganges and capturing several fortified fortresses along the way, an army of thousands returned to Samarkand with rich booty and a large number of slaves.
New conquests and new blood
Following India, it was the turn of the Ottoman Sultanate to submit to the sword of Tamerlane. In 1402, he defeated the hitherto invincible Janissaries of Sultan Bayazid, and took him prisoner. As a result, the entire territory of Asia Minor came under his rule.
The Ionite knights, who held the fortress of the ancient city of Smyrna for many years in their hands, could not resist Tamerlane’s troops. Having previously repelled the attacks of the Turks more than once, they surrendered to the mercy of the lame conqueror. When Venetian and Genoese ships with reinforcements arrived to their aid, the victors threw the severed heads of the defenders from the fortress catapults.
A plan that Tamerlane could not implement
The biography of this outstanding commander and evil genius of his era ends with the last ambitious project, which was his campaign against China, which began in 1404. The goal was to seize the Great Silk Road, making it possible to receive taxes from passing merchants and thereby replenish their already overflowing treasury. But the implementation of the plan was prevented by sudden death, which ended the life of the commander in February 1405.
The great emir of the Timurid empire - under this title he entered the history of his people - was buried in the Gur Emir mausoleum in Samarkand. A legend is associated with his burial, passed down from generation to generation. It says that if Tamerlane’s sarcophagus is opened and his ashes are disturbed, then the punishment for this will be a terrible and bloody war.
In June 1941, an expedition from the USSR Academy of Sciences was sent to Samarkand to exhume the remains of the commander and study them. The grave was opened on the night of June 21, and the next day, as is known, the Great Patriotic War began.
There is another interesting fact. In October 1942, cameraman Malik Kayumov, a participant in those events, meeting with Marshal Zhukov, told him about the fulfilled curse and offered to return Tamerlane’s ashes to their original place. This was done on November 20, 1942, and on the same day a radical turning point in the Battle of Stalingrad followed.
Skeptics are inclined to argue that in this case there were only a number of accidents, because the plan for an attack on the USSR was developed long before the opening of the tomb by people who, although they knew who Tamerlane was, but, of course, did not take into account the spell that hung over his grave. Without entering into controversy, let's just say that everyone has the right to have their own point of view on this matter.
Conqueror's family
Of particular interest to researchers are the wives and children of Timur. Like all eastern rulers, this great conqueror of the past had a huge family. He had 18 official wives alone (not counting concubines), the favorite of which is considered to be Sarai-mulk khanum. Despite the fact that the lady with such a poetic name was barren, the master trusted her with the upbringing of many of his sons and grandchildren. She also went down in history as the patroness of art and science.
It is quite clear that with such a number of wives and concubines there was also no shortage of children. Nevertheless, only four of his sons took the places befitting such high birth and became rulers in the empire created by their father. In their person, the story of Tamerlane found its continuation.
